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Sri
Lanka's path to peace
By
Shastri
Ramachandaran
Senior Assistant Editor of The Times of
India, New Delhi
TFF
associate
December 13, 2002
First we had talking Tigers,
and now these Tigers are changing stripes.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), denizens
of the jungles in northern Sri Lanka, who in the past
started speaking of peace with a promising roar only to
end in a frustrating whimper, have just finished supping
at the same table with their arch foes - representatives
of the government in Colombo. And after three days of a
sumptuous peace-meal, along with a belch of satisfaction,
they have delivered themselves of the declaration that
they will no longer demand a separate and independent
nation for Tamils in the island republic.
The Sri Lankan Tamils - different from the plantation
Tamils who are descendents of indentured labour exported
to work in the tea estates during British rule -
constitute about 12.6 per cent of the population and are
the main minority. Their separatist war been one of the
bloodiest, raging for 19 years and taking a toll of
65,000 lives.
The landmark talks between government negotiators and
Tamil Tigers, brokered by Norway and hosted by Thailand
in Sattahip Naval Base is the first direct engagement in
seven years. During the three days of negotiations from
September 16, both G L Peiris who leads the government
delegation, and Anton Balasingam, London-based chief
negotiator of the Tamil Tigers, struck an upbeat note
with declarations of turning their backs on war.
Even as the negotiators sat down for talks, Sri Lanka
was swept by waves of optimism: people thronged Hindu and
Buddhist temples, churches and mosques to pray for the
success of the effort; and investors drove the Colombo
share market to its highest level in five years. Such
sentiments were attributed to the feeling that this peace
initiative is different from earlier ones and more likely
to succeed. Previous attempts at negotiations had failed
to make any headway, and for a number of reasons,
including the fact that proposals for talks were ploys,
by both sides, to regroup forces for renewed military
offensives.
However, the current negotiations held out the promise
of both parties sticking to the path towards peace much
before the dramatic declaration of the Tigers dropping
their demand for a separate Tamil state. Although this
development is the strongest signal so far of the LTTE's
commitment to the peace process, even before this
denouement came on the last day, there was other evidence
of both sides being determined to pursue negotiations.
First and foremost is the fact that the 'international
community', often a euphemism for Washington, had been
leaning on all parties to the dispute to move towards
talks. New Delhi may not have been visible but its
pressure was no less a factor in leading to this
development. These talks, unlike earlier attempts, took
place at the end of seven months of a bilateral
ceasefire. The ceasefire, unilaterally declared by the
LTTE, was reciprocated by the Sri Lankan government and
later formalised by an agreement. This extended truce has
been the longest spell of peace during the 19 years of
armed conflict.
Earlier, the Tigers had been persuaded to seal an
agreement with the Muslims, another minority in Sri Lanka
(about seven per cent of the population) but one which
had been a victim of the LTTE's 'ethnic cleansing'. The
Muslims, who are in government and were targeted by the
Tigers, have the potential to disrupt the peace talks as
well as unsettle the coalition government in Colombo.
Political quarrels between president Chandrika
Kumaratunga and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who
belong to rival political parties threatened, more than
once, to disrupt the the peace process. Here too
Washington had to step in, particularly to restrain
Kumaratunga from extending her battle for supremacy
against Wickremesinghe to his peace initiative, which had
been endorsed by international powers. The foreign powers
also kept up the pressure on the rebels as well as
Colombo at every stage through the Norwegian
facilitators.
With so much being done before the start of talks, it
was certainly expected to pave the way for continued
negotiations. What was most unexpected was the LTTE
declaration that they would give up their armed struggle
for an independent nation and settle for a "homeland"
within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. Whether this
homeland's status will be negotiated as part of a
confederal or federal arrangement; what powers will vest
in Colombo and what in the hands of the LTTE
administration; who, Central or provincial authority,
will exercise power over land and police - are all open
questions to which answers may not be forthcoming till
the last act of the peace play that has just begun.
What is known is that the Tigers and government
negotiators, will now travel the path to peace; that they
will no longer wage their armed struggle, though arms
will be laid down only when full peace is achieved; that
self-determination and homeland can be accommodated with
the broadest conceivable autonomy without compromising
Sri Lanka's territorial integrity; and that subjects
other than the "core issue" - the status of the homeland
- will take precedence and be dealt with in successive
rounds.
The immediate task confronting the two sides is to
motivate the international community to come forward with
the assistance required for relief and rehabilitation in
the war-affected areas, followed by reconstruction. With
the LTTE no longer banned as a terrorist outfit in Sri
Lanka, its separatist demand having been given up, the
economic embargo on LTTE-controlled areas being eased and
a truce that has held for seven months, creating
conditions for resumption of normal life will now be
accorded the highest priority.
Here, the international community has to rise and show
greater resolve, by matching their rhetoric for peace
with resources that will put an end to conditions that
create conflict.
©
TFF & the author 2002
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